Ageing, underpaid, but still able 2

As a reasonably productive 40-something researcher, I am wondering at what point I will become "ageing, expensive and underproductive"? Given that most of us start off as youngish ambitious academics, it seems odd to argue that only older staff are a freeloading burden. More worrying is the welcome given to Britain's negotiations that have apparently "won" us a three-year delay in implementing legislation to protect older workers, not to mention the suggestion that some people might use the law to work until retirement. What? Don't we have that right anyway?

Karen Ross
Coventry School of Art and Design
Coventry University

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